Health Care

Is that surgery really worth it? Do I really value that cancer screening? Is that extra imaging service necessary?

These are the kinds of questions consumers ask themselves when their insurance plans require higher cost sharing for medical services. This is a new reality in the US health care system, as large employers offering coverage have moved aggressively toward less generous, high-deductible insurance offerings.

Standing up at work can be good for your health. That is the finding of recent research that links standing-based work to improved health outcomes. It follows numerous other studies that show how our sedentary work habits may be killing us.

Thailand’s current democratic crisis sits in stark contrast with its greatest achievement this century: universal health coverage. This achievement is also a prime example of the ideological disagreements on the value of populism in Thai politics.

In 2001, the government introduced ‘30 baht healthcare’, a comprehensive government funded scheme that provided extended health coverage to all citizens. Compared to other countries with similar levels of development, establishing universal healthcare coverage in Thailand was a serious accomplishment.

The US Supreme Court recently began deliberations in a case that will determine whether human genes may be patented. But we already know that permitting gene patents results in inefficiencies – including monopoly profits and a failure to maximize the use of knowledge – that impede the pace of innovation.

The pharmaceutical industry today is a broken intellectual-property regime, which holds back on the development and availability of cheap drugs for the sake of profit maximisation. But it doesn’t have to be this way. An international effort by the World Health Organisation may now represent a once-in-a-generation opportunity to remedy a long-standing and egregious inequity in health care.